Exodus Manuscript Study Wiki
Introduction Ancient manuscripts are very highly prized, due to their rarity and their beautiful artwork. As Voekle writes in the introduction to Mediaeval and Renaissance Manuscripts, “the growing awareness of the importance of illuminated manuscripts, both as artistic achievements and cultural documents, has unfortunately also been accompanied by a number of side effects which served to make their acquisition more difficult over the years. Now regarded on a par with painting and sculpture, they command comparable prices on the market. Their increasing scarcity is also an important factor.” (Voekle, 1974, p. XI) Some scholars and collectors appreciate the time and work that went into hand-lettering a script, while others look to ancient manuscripts as the ultimate melding of art and text, as described by Pacht in Book Illumination in the Middle Ages: “the book contained a dual interaction between functional structure and external form, its ornamentation...in an age when the most important book, the Book of Books, was the Holy Scripture, the believer, even if illiterate, instinctively felt this deeper meaning in the relationship between the book and its outward form, its artistic embellishment.” (Pacht, 1986, p. 10) Pacht’s discussion of the mediaeval frontispiece ruminates on how “the illuminator’s decorative fantasy took control of the whole page of the book, decked it out with a profusion of ornament...and became a major artistic stimulus” (Pacht, 1986, p. 66) Avrin’s observation of the Eb bo Gospels excitedly details “magnificent pages of gold capital letters and Insular-style initials and evangelist portraits in gold-highlighted robes...impressionistic faces reflect nervous energy and the intensity of artistic creation...” (Avrin, 1991, p. 247) Although it appears easy to assume that all illuminated manuscripts are heavy on ornamentation and illumination, I am not afraid to say that O.T. Exodus (M1091) is not a particularly pretty artifact. It is not illuminated in gold gilt, and it does not have breathtaking illustrations of angels, ladies, saints or intertwining vines and flowers. Neither is it an example of an entire surviving book, such as the Gutenberg Bible or a book of hours. It is one side of a leaf in which several hands have crammed notes between lines and in the margins. In contrast to the sparse decoration, the text of the fragment is very visual. Exodus 28, the passage copied, describes garments and ornaments that Jewish priests were to wear. While the text of the passage lends itself to many opportunities for lavish illustration, it is evident that the scribes prioritized the vellum’s empty margins to be used for commentary from Bede the Venerable, not visual aids. During the course of this research project, I made several incorrect assumptions that led to a greater understanding of the work. My main mistake was the assumption that Bede wrote the manuscript himself, but the discrepancy in dates upon researching the Anglo-Saxon saint soon revealed that Bede’s commentary in this piece comes from his work De Tabernaculo et Vasis et Eius ac Vestibus Sacerdotum (Of the Tabernacle and its Vessels, and the Garments of the Priests), which was written around 721. This manuscript fragment dates to France circa 1175, so it is clear that the scribes who created the Exodus manuscript had access to a well preserved copy of Bede’s original commentary. Given that the manuscript was created four hundred years after the scholar’s death, the monastery that added the annotations must have held his writings in the highest of esteem. My second incorrect assumption was that the Cecil H. Green Library at Stanford University, which held the manuscript, operated on the same terms as the archival library at San Jose State University. Instead, I was faced with a far more formal page request system and more strict digital reproduction policy than the one I was accustomed to. Visiting the manuscript required two trips, the second of which required that I bring a digital camera instead of using my smartphone to take pictures. I also quickly learned that I could not access the campus Wi-Fi as a non-Stanford student, which led to me learning a great deal about my skills in time management. The second trip also revealed that the manuscript had writing and embellishment on both sides of the leaf, yet I was only able to look at one side as the fragment had been taped into an acid-free matboard. I must stress that the staff of the Cecil H. Green Library were never less than extremely helpful and accomodating to me as far as their policies would go, and that I am grateful for their help and assistance with this research project. I chose to research this manuscript fragment for several reasons. The first was that I sought to explore an archival repository out of my comfort zone, at Stanford University nearby in Palo Alto. I could have chosen an illuminated manuscript fragment from the archives at San Jose State University, where I work as a student assistant, but my personal goal for this project was to expand my knowledge of archival practices in an academic library much larger than that which I am familiar with. From a research perspective, I was interested in studying a manuscript that had been annotated with text from a period considered ancient when the copy was completed in the 12th century. Biblical commentary remains a common theological literature today, as annotated Bibles full of footnotes and interpretations can be found on the shelves of any christian bookstore. McKitterick describes the relationship that the Carolingian Franks had between scripture and commentary as “part of a past that the Franks had assimilated to themselves, part of the Frankish sense of identity...indeed a textual community in relation to the bible, but also a textual community in terms of their intellectual and textual inheritance” (McKitterick, 2004, p. 221) Bede held a particular reverence to Carolingian theologians, as they were strongly interested in defining the age of earth and the date of the birth of Christ (known as the Incarnation). Bede’s calculations led to the establishment of time measured before christ and after christ, the Anno Domini (AD) which is still in use by much of the world today (McKitterick, 2004, p. 92). While the Frankish empire had collapsed by the time of the manuscript’s creation in the 12th century, the Carolingian influence was still strong enough to warrant Bede as an important scholar and contributor to the field of biblical commentary. It is gratifying to know that even in an age steeped in influence from the church as a ruling class, monks still looked to sources for a better understanding of the scriptures. Historical Context Bede's World (7th Century Northumbria) 7th century England was a world of shifting identities and loyalties. “Had he been born half a century earlier, Bede might well have found himself involved directly in some of the many wars arising from the attempts of ambitious rulers to extend their boundaries...and had he died a little more than half a century later, he would have witnessed the first Viking attack on his own monastery” (Blair, 1990, p. 6) It appears that Bede lived in an era of relative peace and stability, protected from raids by the remote location of his abbey. Northumbria, which presently consists of southern Scotland and northern England, possessed a rocky coast that provided a natural defense against invaders from across the sea. Politically, the feuding clans of Picts and Scots were “brought temporarily into peaceful relationships with one another at this time by intermarriage, and more important, Oswald and several of his noblemen received baptism from the Scots...this event proved to be of such momentous significance for the English church” (Blair, 1990, p. 102) The reigns of Aethelfrith and his successor Oswald brought monetary support to the church, allowing Bede’s childhood monastery to expand into a multi-building complex. Oswald also established the island of Lindisfarne as the first seat of the Holy See, appointing bishops to spread the word of English Christianity across the kingdom (Blair, 1990, p. 104) Even with the access to the varied diet that the monastery provided, the church was crowded and hygiene practices were not standard. A common tale of Bede’s life is that the entire choir of his church and nearly all of the higher offices of the monastery was decimated by the yellow plague, leaving young Bede and few other survivors (Hardin Brown, 2009, p. 7, Blair, 1990, 117-118, Duckett, 1948, p. 234). The rate at which the disease was spread is thought to be due to close hand and mouth contact between the victims, as monks traditionally gave to a sick brother “a farewell kiss peace as they filed before him, weeping for their father whom they were to see no more” (Duckett, 1948, p. 234) The lifetime expectancy was to the mid thirties, although certainly this was not always true when we consider that Bede died at around the age of sixty (University of Glasgow, 2005) although this may well have been due to the unusually peaceful and short-lived era of his time. Bede’s world, although greatly expanded through the power of reading and education, was considerably quite small when one considers that it is mostly agreed on that he never left Northumbria. Scribe's World (12th Century France) The French scribes who created the manuscript lived during the reigns of Louis VI (1108-1137) and Louis VII (1137-1180), two kings who alternately increased and decreased the power of the church in government. Louis VI sought to gain the favor of the papacy through generous financing of churches and appointments of the clergy to high government positions (Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, EBSCOhost), while his son Louis VII’s claim to fame was the marriage and subsequent annulment to Eleanor of Aquitaine and conflict with Pope Innocent II (Columbia Electronic Encycloped ia, EBSCOhost). The support from Louis IV provided for a renaissance of cultural art in the early half of the century, particularly in music. Plague, famine, war and high infant mortality continued to keep the average life expectancy to the mid thirties, but advances in technology had enabled monasteries to improve their hygiene through sewer facilities: “By the 12th century, if not earlier, some monasteries had advanced to having facilities with with regularly flushing latrines...large, elevated cisterns provided water under some pressure for this task” and as to water supply systems for bathing and cleaning, “Some monasteries had water piped in from several miles away using gravity-powered systems” (Newman, 2001, p. 139-140) That monks regularly bathed likely increased their natural life expectancy, even if war and famine typically cut it short. Author and Scribe Bede the Venerable Beda Venerabilis, or the Venerable Bede, lived in the Northumbrian region of England during the Anglo-Saxon period. He lived from approximately 673 to 735, during which he wrote over 30 books on history and theology. Bede spent his childhood in a monastery overseen by Benedict Biscop, who spent much of his life dedicated to the curation of a large library “almost unrivalled in the England of his time” with books, music, relics and artwork from Italy and France (Duckett, 1948, p. 235-240) It was this scriptorium that allowed Bede to cultivate his own excellent education, as “the abbey, a haven of ascetic life, prayer, and study in the midst of the stormy world of Anglo-Saxon England, provided B ede the right home for his productive life and a base from which to observe critically his world” (Hardin Brown, 2009, p.8) Bede learned mathematics, astronomy, history, Greek, and multiple forms of Latin. With his classmates, “every day their store of words grew, and every day they practiced their hands and minds in writing Latin sentences, even as time went on, Latin narratives. It helped much that they were forbidden to talk in their own Anglo-Saxon except on special occasions” (Duckett, 1948, p. 227) Bede’s most popular work is the Historia Ecclesiastica, or Ecclesiastical History of the English People, translations of which can be found in many libraries today. In the introduction to a companion volume to the Plummer translation of this work, J.M. Wallace-Hadrill notes that “Bede’s commentary contains a wealth of what may be called special notes on technical subjects...as varied as the rite of baptism, church music, exorcism, symbolism, monophysitism, visions and poetry” (Wallace-Hadrill, 1975) This is exemplified in the passage that we are presented with in the manuscript fragment, as Bede’s interpretation of Exodus 28 focuses on the symbolism of jewels on the garments of Jewish priests. Bede equates the description of three rows of four gems to the four virtues of prudence, justice, temperance and courage in relation to the holy trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Yarrow, 2006, p. 56). In Bede’s words, “they are adorned with many virtues, and when he is eager to gather them all together in the hidden recesses of his breast by meditating upon them, and to bring them forth by putting them into action” (Holder, 1994, p. 119) Bede is particularly fixated on the symbolism of three and four in relation to the Tabernacle, as Hardin Brown notes that “Bede becomes the first writer to give a full account of the fourfold sense of Scripture, with references to the four feet of the table in Exodus 26 as historical, allegorical, topological, and anagogical. Elsewhere, he posits a threefold sense...such a reading produces a poetic effect, in that objects are metaphors for deeper signification. If the reader allows the process, extraordinary beauty and meaning emerge” (Hardin Brown, 2009, p. 47) Bede died in 735 at the age of 62, and his bones were interred as relics next to Saint Cuthbert until the tomb was destroyed during the Protestant Reformation (Duckett, 1948, p. 334). His prolific career as an author of biblical commentaries earned him a canonization as a Doctor of the Church in 1899, which is why he is also known as Saint Bede or Bede the Venerable. Scribes in 12th Century France While the identities scribes involved in the creation of the manuscript are unknown, there is a fair amount known about the life of the typical monk in 12th century Europe from which we can pull together a general portrait. Christianity had gained much material wealth since the time of the Anglo-Saxons, and the abbeys of France reflected the growth in power in their elaborate cloisters, contrasted with the solemn and humble church of Bede’s Northumbria. Holmes describes the literary habits of these monks as such: “monks were expected to devote from three to five hours a day reading. At the beginning of Lent each monk received from the library a book, which was usually kept a year. Probably some copying of manuscripts was done during the hours allotted to manual labor” (Holmes, 1952, p. 130) Incipit This manuscript leaf has no incipit, as it is a fragment taken from the middle of the completed work. The first writing on the page appears to be a continuation of a word from the previous page. Explicit This artifact has no surviving explicit, as it is a leaf taken from the middle of a work and does not contain the end of the text. Colophon There is no surviving colophon in this manuscript leaf, as the artifact is taken from the middle of the work. Size The leaf measures about 30x22 cm, and fits nicely behind the 9”x12” archival mat that has been taped over it. A sheet of clear plastic protects the fragment from being touched. It is a page from presumably an entire book, possibly a surviving fragment of what was once a complete illuminated copy of Bede’s Tabernaculo. Given that only a paragraph of the quoted chapter from Exodus is on the page, I believe that the rest of the book detailed the entire chapter and included the entirety of Bede’s Tabernaculo in similar copied and ornamented layout. Binding As the page is a standalone leaf, no binding is visible on the manuscript. Any associated marks or holes have been covered by archival tape and matboard for the purpose of preserving the artifact. Material The leaf is inscribed on vellum, which is as light and thin as gift wrap tissue paper after 900 years. It is a light brown color and taped over on the edges, but otherwise in remarkably good condition. Text from the verso side of the leaf, in a similar layout and illuminated scripture paragraph, is visible through the page. Bl oodworth and Parkinson (1988) recommend keeping vellum manuscripts stretched in a wood frame to keep the original shape, then in a sealed glass case if the artifact is to be displayed (p. 65) if the manuscript is to be matted or framed, all framing materials must be acid free and meet current standards of preservation (p. 68). Stanford University’s treatment of this manuscript has been to keep it in an archival box in a cold storage vault, which minimizes its exposure to light and heat. Additionally, the leaf is laid flat between two acid-free matboards and is secured to the boards with acid-free masking tape. Collation The section quoted from Exodus has the largest text, but has the fewest words on the page by far. The eye sees it first, as it was likely intended, due to its placement in the center-right of the page. The large text also is the only column to have the ornamentation of colored initials on each phrase, which indicates that it is the holy scripture; the lack of ornament or embellishment on the smaller text around it indicates that it comes from a more humble inspiration, the pen of the scholar. The text is laid out into a series of four vertical columns, with a lengthy paragraph of horizontal text to the bottom right. The top right column wraps around a short column next to the Exodus text column and finishes with a short few lines of even smaller text below, done in a lighter hand than the rest of the script. Bede’s commentary makes up the rest of the columns that are not the scripture text, with small text written in between the lines of the scripture in an undecorated style. Script and Editing Marks The script is Carolingian Minuscule, which was in use throughout Europe from 800-1200 and was later replaced by Gothic script. Although the first letter of each phrase in the biblical part of the text is not embellished with color, the elongated ascenders that drift to the right above the rest of the words are distinct enough to be regarded as their own kind of embellishment. That the commentary is small, tidy and without large ro unded curves dates it to the lat e 11th century (Tillotson, 2005). Below the first column is a punctuation mark similar to a modern division symbol (÷), and along the right side of the manuscript is a light column of small diagonal slashes. The (÷) sign is likely an obelos, which was used to indicate a textual error or suggest a revision (Haugen, 2011). The slashes on the far right margin are probably indicators of an editor going through the text line by line. Different Hands It is likely that the biblical text column was created by a different scribe than he who copied the commentary around the letters. As th e commentary is plain in comparison to the scripture, it is possible that the biblical text scribe was selected for his skills in decorating. This leaf is not one of the prettier examples of medieval text, as I have said before, and I believe that it was because the monks at this monastery wanted to emphasize the importance of the commentary over the visual beauty of illumination. Also, as all decoration was done by hand, it was a time-consuming process and the artist was possibly needed to devote his time elsewhere. Based on the varying sizes of script commentary on the manuscript, I believe that at least three scribes contributed to the creation of this leaf, with the third adding additional annotations in the smallest hand after the majority of the commentary had been completed. Ink The ink, while a brown shade, varies from red-brown to nearly black. A word along the bottom right hand column appears lighter in hue than others, due to either damage or perhaps as an attempt to erase a mistake. Rubrication There is no rubrication visible on this manuscript, although there are light punctuation marks visible. See section titled "Script and Editing Marks". Decoration Embellishment of the manuscript fragment consists of an enlarged initial for the beginning of every lengthy phrase, in an alternating pattern of red and blue ink. Judging from multiple examples of illuminated manuscripts in Saenger’s Catalogue of the Pre-1500 Western Manuscript Books at the Newberry Library, this is typical decoration for a Latin bible (Saenger, 1989, p. 31-35), although my theory is that this leaf was originally part of an illuminated biblical commentary and not an actual bible. The trend of flourishing initials in colored ink began in the early 12th century; by the early 13th century, alternating flourished initials of red and blue became standard (Derolez, 2003, p. 41) This is another example of the manuscript’s unique combination of antique and contemporary, as the style of alternating color initials was quite new when the manuscript was created at the very end of the 11th century. Illumination/Painting While the letters are embellished with red and blue ink, there is no illumination or painting to be found on the manuscript. This is likely for the purpose of keeping the manuscript humble and focused on commentary, rather than emphasizing the visual spectacle of the illumination. Summary In the process of this research project, I have learned many new things that I had zero acquaintance with before starting; to name a few, this project has taught me volumes about the Anglo-Saxon church, types of scripts, Saints, Anglo-Saxon kings, ancient punctuation marks, everyday life in 12th century France, and so on and so on. Perhaps the most significant lesson that I learned from this project is that while all illuminated manuscripts share vague similarities in era and function, every manuscript is completely unique. My manuscript fragment, O.T. Exodus, resisted easy classification from the start. It is full of contradictions and mysteries -- why so little scripture and so much commentary? where is the illumination, the gilding, the frontispiece and colophon and gorgeous incipits and excipits? What do the symbols mean? All of these questions were raised as I delved deeper into the histories of Saint Bede, biblical commentary and illuminated manuscripts in the 7th and 12th centuries -- some were answered, some were left unsolved. Learning how to decipher and look for clues in a medieval manuscript is not unlike the process of learning how to explicate a poem: at first glance, it appears that the writing on the page stands on its own as a work of art that needs no disassembling. However, as your thoughts probe into the why and how of this construction, parts of the work begin to make themselves clear that previously had not existed. Eventually the brownish page of scribbles in front of me began to resemble distinct columns of different size and color text, with the commentary running between the lines like troops of marching ants. Every element of the manuscript, from the slashes in the margin to the length of the colored initial’s ascenders, was revealed to be significant. Perhaps the most significant detail that I learned during this project was the detail of how disciplined and hardworking the monks of the middle ages were, and how their understanding of the world shaped western civilization through subsequent teaching and study. References Avrin, L. (1991). Scribes, Script and Books. Chicago, IL: American Library Association. Bloodworth, J.G., and Parkinson, M.J. (1988). The Display of Parchment and Vellum. Journal of the Society of Archivists, 9(2), 65-68. Blair, P. H. (1990). The World of Bede. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia. (2011). King of France Louis VI. EBSCOhost. Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia. (2011). King of France Louis VI. EBSCOhost. Derolez, A. (2003). The Palaeography of Gothic Manuscript Books: from the Twelfth to the Early Sixteenth Century. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. Duckett, E. S. (1948). Anglo-Saxon Saints and Scholars. New York, NY: The MacMillan Company. Hardin, G. B. (2009). A Companion to Bede. Rochester, NY: Boydell & Brewer LTD. Haugen, O. (2011). Supplemental Punctuation.http://unicode.org/charts/PDF/U2E00.pdf Holder, H.G. (1994). Bede, on the Tabernacle. Liverpool: University Press. Holmes, U. T. (1952). Daily Living in the Twelfth Century. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press. McKitterick, R. (2004). History and Memory in the Carolingian World. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. Newman, P.B. (2001). Daily Life in the Middle Ages. Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Company Publishers. Pacht, O. (1986). Book Illumination in the Middle Ages. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Saenger, P.H. (1989). A Catalogue of the Pre-1500 Western Manuscript Books at the Newberry Library. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. Tillotson, D. (2005). Caroline Miniscule. http://medievalwriting.50megs.com/scripts/history5.htm University of Glasgow. (2005). Life in Anglo-Saxon England. http://libra.englang.arts.gla.ac.uk/oeteach/Units/2_Life_in.html Voekle, W. (1974). Mediaeval and Renaissance Manuscripts. New York, NY: Pierpoint Morgan Library. Wallace-Hadrill, J.M. (1975). Early Medieval History. New York, NY: Oxford University Press Yarrow, S. (2006). Saints and their Communities: Miracle Stories in 12th Century England. New York: Oxford University Press. Category:Browse